Barmore case: State's attorney to ask judge to find 2 in contempt

Chris Green

Monday

Dec 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2009 at 2:06 PM

ROCKFORD — Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato will ask a judge Monday to find Sheila Brown and her daughter, Marissa, in contempt of court for their failure to appear at a Dec. 23 grand jury hearing.

ROCKFORD — Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato will ask a judge Monday to find Sheila Brown and her daughter, Marissa, in contempt of court for their failure to appear at a Dec. 23 grand jury hearing.

Bruscato made the announcement Monday and released more information about the state police investigation of the Aug. 24 shooting of Mark Anthony Barmore. The new information does not support the Browns’ claim that Barmore was shot by Rockford police officers without cause.

The grand jury cleared officers Stan North and Oda Poole last week in connection with the shooting without hearing testimony from the Browns, who were out of town for the Christmas holiday.

The Browns were present when North and Poole shot and killed the 23-year-old man outside a boiler room at House of Grace Day Care, a part of the Kingdom Authority International Ministries at 518 N. Court St.

Bruscato said he is seeking a contempt-of-court hearing based on Judge Joe McGraw’s ruling Dec. 21 to deny the Browns’ request to postpone their grand jury appearance because their trip was not “an urgent manner.” Punishment for contempt of court varies from fines to jail time.

Bruscato also offered more information to support his statement last week that the Browns’ account of the shooting is inconsistent with physical evidence presented in the case. Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia also shared more autopsy information, including revealing that Barmore had marijuana in his system when he died.

Bruscato said Monday that when Barmore ran to the boiler room of the church, he pushed back on the door when officers attempted to enter. During the struggle, the door was cracked open and officers saw Barmore was in possession of a possible weapon, a shiny metal object, which turned out to be a light ballast. Bruscato said the Illinois State Police found Barmore’s fingerprints on the ballast.

Bruscato also recounted events of Barmore emerging from the boiler room and lunging at Poole, grabbing the barrel of Poole’s gun and pushing it toward Poole’s face. During the alleged struggle, Poole’s gun was fired once, the bullet entering and exiting the side of Barmore’s neck.

Bruscato and Fiduccia said the wound was not fatal. Bruscato said Monday that Barmore’s DNA was found on the “ejection port and slide of the gun.”

He also said that the shell casing from the lone shot that Poole fired was found lodged in the ejection port of the gun, which he said supports Poole’s claim that Barmore’s hand was on the gun. Bruscato also said powder burns were found on the side of Barmore’s neck, which he said also indicates the initial shot was fired at close range.

“This supports the rendition or statements of officer Oda Poole,” Bruscato said. “This does not support the statements of (the Browns) that the shots were made from 3 to 4 feet away.”

Fiduccia said the autopsy was performed by a forensic pathologist, who determined the other three shots fired by North, two of which struck Barmore in the back and the other in the buttocks, were fired at an upward trajectory, not straight on.

“Which would indicate he was moving around or struggling,” she said.

Before concurring with the grand jury’s ruling, Bruscato said he considered the statement of an unnamed adult who also was present in the day care at the time of the shooting.

Bruscato said this witness was on the steps leading down to the day care and Marissa Brown was next to this witness, which he said, “would have made it difficult, if not impossible, (for Marissa Brown) to see.”

Bruscato also said he considered the signed statements made by the Browns to Rockford police the day of the shooting, as well as their comments to the media. He said Sheila Brown “was at the other end of the day care and was facing the children and occasionally looking back (at the officers).”

The shooting investigation, started by the Rockford Police Department, was turned over to state police officers who are members of the Cook County Public Integrity Task Force.

The Rev. Melvin Brown, husband of Sheila and father of Marissa, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP are seeking a federal probe by the Department of Justice. Bruscato said an investigation at the federal level would determine if the Browns’ civil rights were violated.

“I will have to defer to the Department of Justice or FBI to determine if there were any civil rights violations,” he said.

Bruscato also defended the urgency of the Dec. 23 grand jury date and the court’s decision not to accommodate the Browns with a later date. A grand jury is impaneled every six months, Bruscato said, and has a finite time frame in which to conclude its work. The current grand jury was impaneled in July and is scheduled to complete its term the first week of January. Because the group of 16 people meets once a week, not daily, a marathon session was required last week for the Barmore case. The grand jury reached its decision shortly before 10 p.m. Dec. 23. A continuation would have meant the grand jury would have reconvened Jan. 6.

Bruscato said his own office is pressed for time, too. Bruscato and Deputy State’s Attorney Marilyn Hite-Ross are scheduled to begin a murder trial Jan. 4 regarding Michael Jennings, a man arrested in connection with the highly-publicized July 15, 2007 slaying of ice cream vendor Isidro Duran.

Staff writer Chris Green can be reached at cgreen@rrstar.com or 815-987-1241.

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